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A. J. DE VOE 
as he looks to-day. 











WEATHER CHANGES 


Revealed by 


A. J. DE VOE 


The well-known Meteorologist of Hackensack, N. J., 
after more than sixty years of 
careful observations. 


WEATHER LORE IN A NUTSHELL 


Published by 

A. J. De Voe, Hackensack, N. J. 


Copyright, 1924 by A. J. De Voe 





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FOREWORD 

The education of the race varies to meet the needs 
of individuals. For example a working knowledge 
of meteorology was an essential part of the training 
of the Indian. Their experienced hunters knew 
from constant study the meaning of the changing 
features of the sky. Most farmers and fishermen 
are keen observers of nature and become quite ac¬ 
curate in forecasting weather conditions. Boys and 
girls brought up in our large cities know little or 
nothing about the signs that point to weather 
changes. Many a life is lost on our rivers and lakes 
during the summer vacation time because people 
venture out in boats and canoes in the face of what 
experienced observers know as an approaching 
storm. The campaign for safety which is now be¬ 
ing so vigorously pushed might well urge the study 
of weather forecasting as a means of conserving 
human life. 

Professor DeVoe is recognized as one of the fore¬ 
most experts in this country in forecasting weather 
changes. This has been his special study since his 
early boyhood. In this little book he gives in an 
interesting manner much useful information inter¬ 
woven with his personal experiences over a period 
of seventy years. He writes as he speaks with a 
deep conviction of his knowledge of the laws that 
control the coming and passing of great storms. In 
this little book Professor DeVoe does not tell you 
all he knows. What weather prophet ever does. 
It is hoped that the author may interest many in a 
topic concerning which few can speak with authority 
to such an extent that they will be stimulated to 
use their powers of observation and thus get from 
reading the book of nature what she trys to tell in 

3 


the changing cloud and the shifting wind. The 
rocks beneath our feet tell the story of our past; 
the clouds over our heads forecast the story of the 
future. It will do us good to know more about the 
various manifestations of nature. 

William Alexander Smith, A.M. 


4 


BY WAY OF PREFACE 

An old adage runs to this effect: “Poets are born 
not made.” In a larger sense that may be applied 
to the author of this work on the weather; he is 
a born meteorologist. From his earliest years he 
has had a passion for the study of clouds and 
storms. With increasing maturity that early in¬ 
terest crystalized into a life study of meteorolgy. 
Like many another heroic soul he found the path of 
progress had its stones and briars, its valleys of 
humiliation as well as its mounts of vision. Per¬ 
severing amid all discouragements he found dawn¬ 
ing upon him knowledge of great* natural forces 
and laws that enabled him to venture predictions 
as to what the weather would prove to be for some 
days ahead. With added observation, experience 
and widening knowledge he felt justified in going a 
step further and forecasting the weather for a year 
or more in advance. In taking such a long stride 
ahead of his professional associates it was to be 
expected that he would meet with opposition and, in 
some quarters, ridicule, but these were alike un¬ 
availing in stopping his pursuit of his chosen vo¬ 
cation or the utterances of his opinions and his 
prophecies as to what atmospheric changes might 
be expected in the coming year. Fortunately he 
has lived long enough to see these “long distance” 
forecasts justified by the seasons as the earth 
wheeled in its annual orbit about the sun, and also 
to see those who formerly sneered at those forecasts 
transformed into those who praised their general 
accuracy. That change of attitude has been due 
very largely to the fact that many who have kept 
careful record of his predictions and their fulfill¬ 
ment have testified that his major forecasts for 

5 


large areas of the country have been proven to be 
in the main correct, and the minor forecasts for 
local atmospheric conditions have had an average 
of 80 per cent, of fulfillment. 

That surely is a very satisfactory showing for 
so fallible a being as man, and such unstable 
material as winds and clouds and atmospheric 
changes upon which to work. Doubtless with the 
added resources and broader opportunities for in¬ 
vestigation that are now at his command Prof. 
De Voe will bring that percentage nearer the per¬ 
fect mark. That the general public may share with 
him in the benefits to be derived from his discoveries 
in the realm of natural laws and physical forces, 
and co-operate with him in the wider appreciation 
of his methods, he has given this book to all the 
people, and especially to those who are interested 
in the advancement of our knowledge of the phe¬ 
nomena that so largely affect us for good or ill in 
all our enterprises. 

SOME EARLY RECOLLECTIONS AND 
LATER COMMENTS 

When I was a small boy I took great pleasure 
in watching the clouds, especially those developed 
in connection with thunder showers. 

The first thunderstorm I can remember occurred 
in 1855, and the peculiar circumstances around it 
impressed it on my mind so that I never forgot it. 

On that day there was going to be the first steam¬ 
boat excursion that ever went up the Hackensack 
River. The Old Continental Military Company had 
an excursion from Hackensack to Newark, where 
they spent the day. They left Hackensack for 
Newark about 8 o’clock in the morning, from 
Huyler’s Dock, and sailed down the river. 

We lived at that time in Ridgefield Park. I was 
so small that I had to stand on the railing of the 

6 


fence in order to see over the top of the pickets. 
As I looked down toward the river I noticed a light 
hazy bank of clouds and I said, “If that bank of 
clouds comes up, there is going to be a thunder 
shower this afternoon.” 

The excursion passed down the river with flying 
colors. The band was playing, the militia and the 
ladies dancing. They spent the day at Newark and 
then started on the return trip to Hackensack, a'nd 
reaching the turnpike bridge about 6 o’clock in the 
evening, and the thunder shower arrived at the 
same time. That was a great disappointment to 
us boys. We were all out watching that steam boat 
coming up the river but the storm was so severe 
that we all had to seek shelter within adjacent build¬ 
ings. 

From that time up to the present I have always 
taken a very great interest in the formation of 
thunder storms. 

There is one thing connected with the common 
idea of thunder storms that I am not able to fully 
understand. A great many people teach their 
children, that thunder is God’s voice and I was 
taught that when I was a boy. Who taught me 1 
do not know, but it was my impression, and also 
that of all the rest of the boys, that the thunder 
was God’s voice. 

I suppose that good people have that idea from 
the fact, that when the Lord came down on Mount 
Sinnai to talk with Moses, there was great thunder 
and lightning so that the mountain shook and 
Moses said, “I feared and trembled exceedingly.” 

If thunder was sufficient to cause such a faithful 
man as Moses to tremble, it is not to be wondered 
at, that people generally have the dread of thunder; 
but we should always teach the truth. 

Thunder is not God’s voice; but it is the result 
of the operation of natural law. When a dense 
cloud is formed, the moisture in that cloud is charged 

7 


with electricity, but when the moisture in that 
cloud is condensed into water, it is then separated 
from the associated electrical current, consequently 
whenever rain falls in large drops or when hail is 
formed, no matter how cold the temperature may 
be, there will be thunder and lightning, even in the 
midst of winter. This result is due to the fact that 
the electricity in the cloud looses its equilibrium 
and is separated from the moisture in the clouds so 
rapidly that it is unequally distributed and then 
escapes to our earth. 

If there was no explosion, we should simply hear 
a rushing hissing sound, as we do when we send up 
a sky rocket. That is all the noise there would be, 
but we hear very heavy thunder, and the heavier 
the electrical charge is the heavier the thunder will 
be. 

I have watched thunder storms very carefully 
and gathered all the information I could, especially 
regarding instances where electrical balls of fire 
have passed through houses. From my point of 
view, there appears to be a collection of chemical 
substances contained in the heavy clouds and those 
chemical substances descend sometimes from cloud 
to cloud, at other times, they descend directly to 
our earth. When the lightning flashes across the 
face of the cloud, I call that sheet lightning, but 
when it darts from the cloud to our earth, it may be 
called chain lightning. 

In every flash of lightning there are explosive 
chemicals. These are sometimes found and are 
composed of chemical substances, so hard that no 
file can touch them, and whenever the chemical sub¬ 
stances come in contact with any substance, they 
explode. At times the electrical charge is not 
sufficient to carry the bolt to the earth, then it ex¬ 
plodes just beneath the clouds. 

It is the explosion of those chemical substances 
which causes the noise which we call thunder. 

8 


There are hundreds of instances where balls ol 
fire have passed through houses, going in one win¬ 
dow and coming out of another and without the 
slightest sound. 

Sailors at sea have seen balls of fire pass through 
the rigging of their ships and when they exploded 
they sounded like half a dozen cannons. 

In this connection I wish to refer to the fore¬ 
closing instances of the effects spoken of. 

The annals of a French academy of science tell 
of a tailor’s adventure with a thunder-bolt. He 
lived in a house provided with two chimneys—one 
for a fire place and the other for a stove, the latter 
not in use. During the thunder storm a tremendous 
report was heard, and everybody thought that the 
house had been struck by lightning. Instantly a 
blue flaming ball dropped into the fireplace and 
rolled out into the room, the ball of fire playing 
about his feet. Suddenly it rose above his head and 
moved off toward the stovepipe hole in the ceiling, 
which had a piece of paper pasted over it. The ball 
moved straight through the paper and up the chim¬ 
ney. When near the top, it exploded and tore the 
chimney into a thousand fragments. The sight of 
the debris left by the explosion showed the family 
what would have been the consequences had it ex¬ 
ploded while on its gyrating passage through the 
room. 

Scientists tell us that thunder can only be heard 
30 miles away, but I distinctly heard thunder 60 
miles distant. It occurred in August in the year 
1903. It was on a Sunday afternoon. I was sitting 
out in my front yard, I heard a rumbling sound but 
I could see no cloud, but about 10 minutes later 
became assured it was thunder, but it was at least 50 
miles distant. In order to be certain about the 
correct distance, I wrote on Monday to the post¬ 
masters at Strasburgh, Sparta, and the Delaware 
Water Gap. 


9 


The three postmasters wrote me very interesting 
letters, but the one in Strasburgh said, “There was 
no thunder storm here Sunday afternoon but it 
thundered very heavily, but a few miles north of 
here, there was a very heavy thunder storm, and 
hail also that destroyed about everything.” 

This storm only covered a space of 5 miles wide 
and 20 miles long, and justified my opinion that 
there was no other storm which I could have heard 
but that one; the distance was 61 miles on a straight 
line from Hackensack. 

The first that my people believed that I could 
see further than ordinary occurred in the summer 
of 1858, I was then a boy just in my teens. 

Wm. A. Allen, the largest kindling wood dealer 
in the U. S., was my first cousin, and he had his 
factory in Baltimore, Maryland. His wife boarded 
with us during the summer. It was on a beautiful 
clear Friday, with a brisk north-west wind blowing 
in the afternoon. 

I noticed a hazy bank of clouds along the south 
western horizon extending from the northwest 
towards the southeast and settling southward. I 
knew from the formation of those clouds that there 
was a thunderstorm in progress. I knew nothing 
then about trigonometry and how to measure dis¬ 
tances, but from the shape of those clouds I knew 
that they were more than one hundred miles dis¬ 
tant. So I went into the house and told my cousin, 
Mrs. Allen, that there was a thunderstorm in 
progress down in Baltimore, Maryland. She wanted 
to know how I knew it, and I told her, “That I 
could see it.” 

She replied, “When William comes home to¬ 
morrow we shall see.” 

When Wiliam came home that Saturday evening, 
I hailed him first with the inquiry: “Did you have 
a thunderstorm yesterday afternoon?” 

10 


He said, “Yes, what do you know about it?” 
Then I went to work and described it to him, how 
it appeared to me here, and how it probably was 
there, viz., that they had a heavy thunderstorm in 
Baltimore that afternoon; that the wind before the 
storm was blowing from the south; that when the 
storm arrived it shifted to the northwest and 
cleared up cooler that night. All of which descrip¬ 
tion harmonized with the facts in the case. 

My people regarded it as a joke, that I could see 
a thunderstorm 175 miles away as I did at that time. 

SOME EXPERIENCES WITH SCIENTIFIC 
MEN 

A few years after the Baltimore storm just 
described, I called at the office of the Weather 
Bureau in New York [City. Dr. Penrod was in 
charge, and I asked him, “How far he could see a 
thunderstorm approaching.” I was very much sur¬ 
prised to hear him say, that under favorable con¬ 
ditions, you could see a thunderstorm twenty miles 
away. I did not tell him I could see a storm 100 
miles away, for I knew he would laugh at me. I 
asked him, “How far he could see a usual storm ap¬ 
proaching,” and he said, “Possibly fifty miles.” 

I returned home from my visit at the office of 
Dr. Penrod questioning seriously whether I was a 
fool or he was, and resolved I was going to deter¬ 
mine by further effort which one of us was. 

I said nothing, but watched the clouds closely 
and went down to the city again about two weeks 
later. Then I said to Dr. Penrod, “I would like to 
try an experiment, I’ll keep tabs on the weather as 
it occurs in Albany, N. Y., and in Philadelphia, 
Penn., and I will come down and we will compare 
notes.” 

I returned and watched the weather very closely, 
and took down notes as to the changes occuring, 

11 


and whenever I saw a thunderstorm or change of 
weather, I made note of them. Then I would go 
down to Dr. Penrod, and we would compare notes, 
I kept that up for three or four months, and Dr. 
Penrod said, “This is an honest fact, you can do 
what we can not do, but you do it by a sort of 
natural instinct and not by any scientific methods.” 
Then I told him what I thought about the weather, 
and the changes observable. 

He was a very jovial and agreeable man, and he 
threw himself back into his chair, and laughed as 
though he would split and he said, “There is nothing 
known to science, by which we can foresee the 
thunderstorms 150 miles distant; and if there were 
any methods by which such things could be done, 
the scientific men would have found it out long ago. 
But they have not found it out, nor have you either.” 

He further said, “Now, here is a work by Prof. 
Loomis, that illustrates the principles on which we 
base our system, and all scientific men base their 
calculations on this system. You take this book 
and read it carefully, and then you will find out 
your mistake.” 

I took the book and read it carefully from “a” to 
“z” and I very soon discovered that Prof. Loomis 
had placed, to quote the old proverb, “The cart be¬ 
fore the horse.” Everything was upside down, the 
more any person studied that book, the less they 
would know about forecasting the weather; for 
Prof. Loomis asserts that the storms are caused by 
a warm current of air ascending into a colder cur¬ 
rent at a high altitude. A cold current not being 
able to hold the amount of moisture that was con¬ 
tained in the warm current, produced rain. But I 
have noticed that when we were going to have 
thunder showers the clouds always floated lower 
than usual, and that just as soon as the cumulus 
cloud assumed smooth gray surfaces, that it would 
rain, independently of any current, and also because 

12 


thunder showers frequently form when there is a 
dead calm. 

It makes no difference whether a current of air 
ascends into the cold region or whether a current 
of air descends into a warm region, the principal is 
the same. But if scientists were correct, that storms 
are formed by a warm current of air ascending to 
a higher altitude, the storm would be located at a 
higher altitude. Observation shows the reverse of 
that to be true, for whenever there is a storm, the 
colder atmosphere comes nearer to the earth’s sur¬ 
face. Therefore, I contend the theories which I 
set forth twenty years ago have been abundantly 
substantiated as correct; and the following article, 
which was published in Pearson’s Weekly in July, 
1903, fully explains my statement. 

That article was entitled, “Holes in the Air,” and 
described invisable pitfialls with which airships may 
have to contend. Then the author goes on to explain 
what effect these holes in the air have. You will 
notice that he calls them “holes,’’ while I call them 
openings, in an article which I wrote forty years 
ago. 

The ideas which We try to convey are the same. 
Let us call them “holes in the air,” for argument’s 
sake. Now suppose we could place a barometer 
in one of these holes in the air, what would the 
mercury do? Why! it would go down as though 
the bottom was knocked out of the tube in which it 
had been placed. 

What I want to show is that these “holes” in 
the atmosphere are the starting points around which 
storms form. I have seen this for more than forty 
years, yet my statements were ridiculed because not 
confirmed from a scientific point of view, as I was 
first to discover the law, I am also the first to apply 
that law, and thus ascertain in advance what the 
weather will be. 


13 


In the year 1881, in February, I took a trip to 
Washington, in order to have a talk with the head 
of the Weather Bureau, General Hazen. He re¬ 
ceived me very pleasantly and listened to every 
word I had to say very attentively, and among the 
things I told him was this: “General, if you had 
10,000 men and a station on every high mountain 
in the country, and used your present system, you 
would not be able to forecast the weather any more 
accurately than today; it is the fault of your system 
and not of the men.” 

He simply said, “mm!” 

But results are justifying the application of my 
system. 

The great difference between my system of fore¬ 
casting the weather and that of the government is 
this: The government experts start out with the 
assertion that changes in the weather are of two 
kinds, 1—regular or periodic; 2—irregular or acci¬ 
dental. The regular changes are those which occur 
gradually, as the seasons change; the accidental 
are those which come suddenly. The latter, they 
claim, cannot be foreseen nor explained 

My readers may remember that one of the “acci¬ 
dental” changes come suddenly, April 27, 1897, the 
day of the dedication of Grant’s monument in New 
York. Forty-eight hours previous to the 27th, the 
Weather Bureau, after carefully examining the re¬ 
ports of the weather from all sections of the 
country, told the public there was no storm in 
sight, and the indications were that there would be 
exceptionally fine weather on the 27th. 

But on the afternoon of the 26th an accidental 
storm formed suddenly over Northern New York, 
which caused a howling northwest gale on the 27th, 
with a drop in the thermometer of 40 degrees, com¬ 
pletely upsetting the government bureau’s calcula¬ 
tions. 


14 


I claim no accident can happen in the operation 
of God’s laws. Every storm that ever formed was 
obedient to some law and controlled by it. It would 
be a very serious matter to have “accidental” storms 
prowling around loose and nobody responsible for 
them. 

That fall in the temperature on April 27th, I saw 
coming, and on April 9th I wrote to the Hon. Mr. 
Stewart, our Congressman, at Paterson, warning 
him to wear an overcoat, and right well did he ap¬ 
preciate it. The men from Washington suffered 
greatly from the cold that day. 

I claim there is one law which controls the 
weather throughout the world, and I can explain 
that law so that a person can forecast the weather 
for his locality weeks in advance, without the aid 
of scientific instruments. If we know the law we 
will also know what effect the change in the tem¬ 
perature will have upon these instruments long 
before the instruments register the change. An in¬ 
stance when the Weather Bureau at Washington 
were not able to apply their theory correctly, oc¬ 
curred on the 4th of March, 1897, when President 
McKinley, was inaugurated. Forty-eight hours be¬ 
fore, they promised warm southerly breezes and 
balmy atmosphere, but an accidental storm formed 
suddenly and caused a howling northeast storm to 
descend on Washington that day. 


STUDYING THE CLOUDS 

As I look back to my boyhood days, the most en¬ 
joyable hours of my life were those spent in watch¬ 
ing and studying the clouds, and the great regrets 
that I experienced as I approached manhood were, 
that when I became a man I could no longer enjoy 
watching the formation and progress of thunder 
storms; for I then considered it beneath the serious 

15 


consideration of men. But when I became a man 
I found that every branch of business was more or 
less affected by the general condition of the weather. 
I learned that it was worth thousands of dollars to 
a single county in any state to know in advance what 
the general weather would be for a coming season, 
i.e., whether it would be wet or dry, hot or cool. I 
learned that the weather not only controlled the 
markets for the agricultural products of the world; 
but it also regulated the price of every other pro¬ 
duct both on land and sea. For instance, some years 
the oyster catch would be small and very inferior 
in quality; while another year it would be large and 
well flavored. I soon discovered that this condition 
of the oyster market was regulated by the condition 
of the weather, for whenever we had a mild, dry 
summer with no easterly gales along our Atlantic 
coast, then the oysters were undisturbed, they 
simply laid still and grew fat; the result was a 
bountiful yield. But if severe easterly gales swept 
along our Atlantic coast during June and July, then 
the oyster beds were covered with sand so deep, 
that the oysters were compelled to exert themselves; 
if they laid still they would smother. The exertion 
of working their way to the surface made the 
oysters thin and unpalatable. So I learned that 
even the edible products of the sea are regulated by 
the weather which prevails above them. Recently 
Mr. Willis Moore, Chief of the Weather Bureau, 
in an article to the public press, said, “If we could 
foresee what weather would bring during a coming 
season, it would save millions of dollars to the 
agricultural interests alone.” Therefore, any one 
can readily see, that if I place in their hands a book 
giving an outline of my system, showing how one 
may determine for himself, no matter where he may 
live, what the general weather will be for several 
days in advance, that this information will prove to 

16 


be of great benefit financially, no matter what line 
of business one may be engaged in. 

In view therefore, of the general benefits that I 
am now, after years of investigation, convinced will 
ensue to the general public in all the various ac¬ 
tivities of our modern life, I have resolved to place 
the general outlines of my system in the hands of 
the people of this great republic. In doing so all 
that I ask is a patient consideration of the principles 
laid down, and an equally patient application of them 
to the meterological conditions of various localities. 

Further, I ask, that in case of any mistake in the 
working out of my system by those who may 
examine it and seek to apply it, that they will re¬ 
member that in this as in all other professions, 
“Practice Makes Perfect.” Bear in mind, also, an 
older rule, that I have followed amid all the per¬ 
plexing experiences that come to the seeker after 
knowledge in any sphere of applied science, viz., 
“If at first you don’t succeed, try again.” 

With these prefactory words, the writer pro¬ 
ceeds to set forth as lucidly as he may and without 
the use of embarrassing technical terms, the out¬ 
lines of what he believes to be the sanest method of 
forecasting the weather of which, up to this time, 
knowledge is to be had. 

CLOUDS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE 

(With Illustrations) 

There are four forms of clouds, namely, cumulous, 
cumulo-strattus, nimbus and cirrus. Whatever 
clouds appeaii in the heavens belong to one of these 
four classes. There is only one form of cloud 
created; that is the cumulous, a light bunch of mist. 
The other three clouds are a mere matter of growth. 
The cumulous cloud is formed, and when the at¬ 
mospheric conditions are favorable then this little 
cumulous cloud becomes enlarged, both in thickness 

17 


and in width, and if the conditions continue favor¬ 
able to its growth, then it becomes a cumulo- 
strattus cloud, and the two forms of clouds appear 
one above the other. When the conditions are 
favorable then the cumulo-strattus cloud is formed 
into a nimbus and drops of rain start to fall, the 
cloud changes its form, all its roughness disappears 
and all uneveness and it becomes a perfectly smooth 
form. 

Winter and Summer and in any month in the 
year, the cloud takes that peculiar form. After the 
rain has been falling and this nimbus cloud has 
parted with its moisture, then it becomes a cirrus 
cloud. 


Boston, Mass. October 28, 1903. 
Prof. A. J. De Voe, Hackensack, N. J.: 

Dear Prof. De Voe:—I was glad to note that 
your prediction of a thunderstorm for the nine¬ 
teenth of this month was verified, as well as the 
first snowstorm of this season for the 26th. The 
latter I had mentioned to several friends, a day or 
two before it came, and got hooted at for my pains. 
I was on the North Shore of Massachusetts, when 
the thunderstorm came along. It occurred between 
1 and 2 o’clock Saturday, the 19th. I had forgotten 
all about your prediction, else I might not have 
got caught in it and got the “ducking” I did, when 
on my way to the Ipswich Sandhills for a little 
shooting. I was going “ducking,” to be sure; but 
I got about all I wanted on the road. 

This is written spontaneously, in order that I may 
pay my tribute to your sagacity, as I learn that the 
storm did not occur in this vicinity with the force 
that it did in Massachusetts. While it lasted it 
was very severe, and was accompanied, as I have 
said, by terrific peals of thunder. 

I do not know what the “regular” predictions for 
that day were, as in common with many others, I 

18 


pay no attention to them; but I dare say they made 
no reference to a storm of .the character you 
prophesied, and which came along on “schedule 
time,” as I can testify, and do, with pleasure, here¬ 
with. 

Very truly yours, 

FREDERICK A. OBER. 

When we bear in mind that every cloud that ap¬ 
pears in the heavens is one of these four forms of 
clouds, we can tell instantly what is taking place, 
and when we see very thin strips of light cirrus 
cloud, they indicate that below the horizon, far 
beyond the reach of our vision, there has been a 
cumulous, a cumulo-strattus, and a nimbus cloud 
and that rain has fallen that day two hundred miles 
away, beyond the line of our vision, in the direction 
from which the cirrus cloud is approaching; it may 
be in the south, or in the west, or north. 

The cirrus cloud is simply a sheet of frozen fine 
needles of ice, gradually evaporating and disappear¬ 
ing. 

The cloud from which rain falls seldom travels 
further than twenty miles, but it is constantly 
changing its form, so that instant that the cloud 
appears above the horizon, we can tell whether 
that cloud is growing or whether it has parted with 
its rain fall and is evaporating; the same as we look 
upon our trees and see green leaves, but we know 
that early in the Spring the leaves were buds, and 
those buds developed into leaves and later on came 
the fruit; if the trees were fruit trees. 

The leaves and fruit are not created as leaves and 
fruit on the trees, but they grow; and the clouds 
grow in just the same way. 

Rain never falls from the cloud until the cloud 
has passed through three changes and the instant 
it passes through these three forms it then takes 
the fourth form of the cirrus cloud. 

19 


When light cirrus clouds appear along the north¬ 
eastern horizon, extending from a point in the north 
to east, they indicate that a storm or low barometer 
is located over Canada east, and also that it is mov¬ 
ing southward, if these clouds appear in this posi¬ 
tion during the winter months they indicate that 
pleasant weather will prevail for two days, followed 
by fogs and a thaw on the third day. When they 
appear in other months of the year, you may expect 
three days of pleasant, dry weather, followed by a 
hot wave. 

When we see these clouds moving across the 
sky, if they are going from the northwest we know 
that more than 100 miles in the northwest it has 
been raining or is raining at the present time, and 
if those clouds advance rapidly from the northwest, 
it does not matter how the wind is blowing on the 
surface of the earth where we are, but 200 miles 
northwest of us the wind is blowing from the south¬ 
east. 

Why? Because cirrus clouds move outward from 
the storm center in a large circle, while the wind 
blows in toward the storm center, whirling from 
right to left, directly opposite from the way the 
clouds move, so if it is in the Summer time, and we 
see these light cirrus clouds moving rapidly from the 
northwest, we can just write down this: Tomorrow, 
easterly winds; hot sultry weather, followed by 
thunder showers. 

When we see these clouds advancing rapidly from 
the southwest, bearing in mind that they always 
move in the large circle outward from the storm 
center, we may know that the storm is forming 
south of us and tomorrow we will have falling tem¬ 
perature and northerly winds. 

When light cirrus clouds appear along the north¬ 
western horizon, extending from a point in the west 
and moving from the southwest toward the north¬ 
east, they indicate that a storm or low barometer 

20 


is located over the Gulf States, moving eastward. 
If these clouds appear in this position during the 
Winter months, they indicate squally weather, fol¬ 
lowed by cold wave. 

When light cirrus clouds appear along the south¬ 
western horizon, extending from the west to the 
south, and moving in a southeasterly direction, they 
indicate that a storm or low barometer is located 
over the Missouri Valley, and that it is moving 
southeasterward. When these clouds appear in this 
position during the Winter months, they indicate 
an approaching storm. Snow or rain may be ex¬ 
pected on the following day, with a rising tem¬ 
perature. When these clouds appear in a similar 
position during other months of the year they in¬ 
variably indicate muggy, sultry weather, followed 
by rain and thunder showers. 

When light cirrus clouds appear along the south¬ 
eastern horizon, extending from the southwest to 
the northeast, they indicate that a storm or low 
barometer is located over the South Atlantic States, 
and that it is moving northward. If these clouds 
drift eastward you may look for a blizzard within 
forty-eight hours, during the Winter months. They 
always indicate an approaching storm along the 
Atlantic Coast, and the wind will invariably blow 
from the northeast, followed by a cold wave any 
month in the year. 

STUDYING THE WEATHER 

1. We all know that one of the main topics of 
daily life is the weather. 

What do we mean by weather? 

The condition of the atmosphere for any par¬ 
ticular day is the weather for that day. 

2. One of the great factors in human progress is 
climate. 

What is meant when we speak of climate? 

21 


The average weather conditions for the year 
in any place is the climate for that locality. 

3. What factors are considered when we speak of 
weather? 

When we speak of weather we take into con¬ 
sideration rainfall, temperature, humidity, at¬ 
mospheric pressure and sunshine. 

4. How is the amount of rainfall measured? 

Rainfall is measured by an instrument called 
a rain gauge. This gauge collects the water 
which falls within a measured area. In this way 
the amount of rainfall is easily determined. The 
amount of rainfall is expressed in inches. The 
amount of rainfall differs every year even in the 
same locality. On the amount of rainfall most 
of human happiness and prosperity depends. 

5. How is temperature measured? 

Temperature is measured by a metallic ther¬ 
mometer which records the readings on a mov¬ 
ing cylinder of paper. In this way records of 
annual rainfall are kept. 

6. How is humidity measured? 

Humidity is measured by the Dew Point ap¬ 
paratus, or by means of a wetbulb theometer. 
Humidity is a great factor in comfort during 
the summer months. 

7. How is sunshine measured? 

There is an instrument known as the Sunshine 
Recorder, which absorbs enough heat from the 
sunshine to close an electric circuit by means of 
expanding mercury. In this way the duration 
of sunshine is recorded by electricity. If one 
wishes to get more than a person’s opinion of 
the weather for any locality, he can get the 
records of all these different factors for himself 
and thus form an accurate judgment of the 
weather in any given place. 

8. What relation does atmospheric pressure bear 
to weather? 


22 


It has been found by experience that a “falling 
barometer” showing a sudden decrease in at¬ 
mospheric pressure precedes a storm; and a “ris¬ 
ing barometer” that is, an increasing atmos¬ 
pheric pressure indicates the approach of fair 
weather, while a steady “high barometer” means 
settled fair weather. 

The United States Weather Bureau takes 
every day at the same time (8 A. M. Washington 
time) readings of the barometer and telegraphs 
the results to a central station where weather 
maps are prepared. On the maps there are 
certain broad areas where the pressure is “low” 
and other sections where the pressure is “high.” 

9. What do low pressure areas show? 

Low pressure areas are usually storm centers, 
which move in a general easterly direction at 
the rate of several hundred miles a day. In this 
way the patch of the storm is predicted. 

10. What do high pressure areas indicate? 

The high pressure areas occupy the spaces 
between the lows and also move eastward across 
the continent, but their course is usually in¬ 
clined toward the southeast. The high pressure 
areas are not as regular as the lows. In the 
region of high pressure we will find fair weather. 

STUDYING THE ATMOSPHERE 

1. What is wind? 

Wind is air in motion. 

2. What starts air in motion? 

There are three causes which start the air in 

motion: 

First—The law of heat. 

Second—The law of cold. 

Third—The law of condensation of moisture 
in atmosphere. 

How does the law of heat produce wind? 

23 


3 . 


By expanding the atmosphere and causing it 
to flow outward and upward. 

4. How does the law of cold produce wind? 

By contracting and shrinking the atmosphere 
at a given point, causing the surrounding at¬ 
mosphere to flow inward and downward. 

5. How does the law of condensation of moisture 
produce wind? 

The minute particles of moisture which float in 
our atmosphere are drawn by the law of attrac¬ 
tion towards the coldest point, and when the 
temperature of the atmosphere sinks below the 
freezing point, then the aqueous vapors congeal 
and fall to our earth, forming the hoar frost; or 
they are arrested in their downward flight by the 
formation of a cloud. Whatever leaves our at¬ 
mosphere and descends to our earth creates a 
vacuum just in proportion to the weight of that 
which leaves the atmosphere. Therefore, when 
tons of water are falling in the form of rain 
over a given point, then gales of wind are set 
in motion, whirling around that point where the 
heaviest rain is falling. Wind is a servant, not 

* a creator, and it simply rotates around that point 
where the heaviest rain is falling; and the point 
of heaviest rainfall may travel northward, or 
southward, or eastward, and the winds follow 
it. Therefore, if we know in advance where the 
heaviest rains will fall we will also know from 
what direction the winds will blow on a given 
day, months in advance. The name of clouds 
is given to collections of vapor that float above 
our earth at various heights. 

6. How many kinds of clouds are there? 

Four. 

7. What are they called? 

(Cumulus, cumulo-stratus, nimbus and cirrus. 

How many of these are created? 

Only one, the cumulus. 

24 


8. 



The Thunder Storm Growing 



























































































9. What do the other forms of clouds indicate? 

The other forms of clouds simply indicate 
cloud growth, and show the different stages of 
progress which the.cumulus cloud has passed 
through. 

10. How many transformations must a cumulus 
cloud pass through before it can rain? 

All cumulus clouds must pass through three 
transformations before it can rain. The sky may 
be obscurred by heavy cumulus clouds all day 
and not a drop of rain fall, because the cumulus 
clouds have remained as cumulus or cumulo- 
stratus clouds. 

11. What causes the cumulus cloud to pass through 
these different transformations? 

The cumulus cloud is composed of minute 
particles of moisture like soap bubbles. These 
minute particles are warmer than the surround¬ 
ing atmosphere, and when millions of these are 
collected they exert a lifting power which presses 
the upper side of the cloud into a region of 
freezing temperature, and the particles of mois¬ 
ture can no longer remain as moisture but begin 
to congeal into fine particles of frozen sleet and 
we know by observation that the cumulus cloud 
is changing into a cumulo-stratus cloud, because 
the rough edges become smooth and the uneven 
places become level presenting the appearance 
of a smooth gray sheet. Then we know it has 
become a nimbus cloud. That nimbus cloud can 
be distinctly seen whenever there is a thunder 
storm in progress in any direction within one 
hundred and seventy-five miles distant provided 
there is a clear atmosphere between you and 
that storm. 

READING THE CLOUDS 

To know the construction of clouds and what 
they indicate is of great value in forecasting the 

25 


coming weather. Why? 

Because, as soon as a storm has formed over any 
part of the world, cirrus clouds will shoot out from 
that storm center in every direction. All forms of 
clouds have two movements, they have a forward 
movement also a drifting movement. For instance: 
When a steamboat leaves the slip to cross the Hud¬ 
son River the captain does not steer straight across 
because he knows he must allow for the force of 
the tide. And if the tide is running south he points 
his steamer two thirds up the stream, while if the 
tide is running north he points his steamer south¬ 
ward. Exactly the same principle operates on every 
storm that is formed. If the attractive force of the 
moon is drawing that storm northward, then that 
storm will drift northward no matter where the 
storm may have been created. It is this drifting 
motion of storms which has fooled Meterologists of 
all ages. Therefore, I claim that the cirrus clouds 
are of far more value in showing us in what direc¬ 
tion the approaching storm is drifting than the 
barometer. 

For instance, we arise on a clear cold winters 
morning and we see thin cirrus clouds moving down 
from the northwest pointing southeastward. If they 
continue that movement all day we can safely say 
tomorrow southerly winds and warmer weather, and 
we can continue to make that same forecast, just so 
long as those clouds continue to move in that way. 
But as soon as those cirrus clouds change their 
course and point to the northeast, then that storm 
center is either dying out or it is going to travel 
northeast. Then we can predict for tomorrow rain 
turning to snow followed by clear and colder 
weather. 

Again, when we see a thin bank of cirrus clouds 
across the southern horizon and drifting southward 
and finally disappearing below the horizon, then 
we can predict pleasant weather for several days, 

26 



The Beginning of a Thunder Storm 





















































but if that bank of cirrus clouds drifts slowly north¬ 
ward then we can safely predict for tomorrow north¬ 
east winds and colder weather followed by a snow 
storm, and if it is at new moon prepare for a blizzard* 

When a thunder storm cloud begins to part with 
its rain that cloud only travels about twenty-five 
miles then a new cloud forms directly in front of 
that cloud and that process is kept up just as long 
as that thunderstorm belt continues to scatter its 
rain. 

I received my first important lesson on the move¬ 
ments of thunder storm belts on the 21st of June 
in 1859. It was Friday and we were picking straw¬ 
berries for market. At noon it began to thunder in 
the southwest and the clouds increased in blackness 
as they approached the vicinity of New York City. 
We had just an ordinary shower at Hackensack, 
but at New York City hail fell as large as teacups 
and destroyed millions of dollars worth of property. 
Among the buildings destroyed was the Crystal 
Palace, which was made of glass. It became a total 
wreck. At that time my father was a subscriber 
for the New York Herald and the stage coach de¬ 
livered it every evening. Each evening my father 
read this paper aloud and we children learned a 
great deal of useful information from these read¬ 
ings. The most important thing that I learned the ' 
next day was the comments about that great storm. 
The Herald stated that it raged at Boston and New 
York and Philadelphia at the same hour, 2 P. M. 

I at once jumped to the conclusion that there was 
more than one storm and I soon became able to 
locate thunder storms more than 200 miles distant 
by using this device. I said thunder storms are 
located in a storm belt and that thunder storm belt 
extends in a northeast and southwest direction for 
a thousand miles, then all those thunder storms 
drift southeastward and each city gets one. As that 
long narrow strip passes, places one thousand miles 

27 


apart may get that shower at the same hour they 
get the belt but not the same shower. 

SIGNS FOR WEATHER SHARPS 

What is the first important sign that an important 
storm is approaching? 

In winter the most important sign is a heavy 
white frost, while in summer the most important 
sign is a dense fog. 

Why? 

Because all changes in our weather have their 
origin miles above our earth. 

Can we give an example? 

Yes. The winter of 1865 was extremely cold and 
stormy. On January 25th we were cutting down 
trees and hauling the logs out on high ground. The 
air was perfectly still, but the mercury was several 
degrees below zero, and all day long we heard the 
trees snap like pistol shots, because the sap froze 
so rapidly that the trees expanded and burst the 
bark, and every time the bark split there was an 
explosion. I do not know just how low the ther¬ 
mometer was, but I know this, I always carried a 
folding rubber cup in my pocket; we cut a hole in 
the ice on the Hackensack River, then we drank 
from that rubber cup and before we could finish our 
drink, the outside of that cup was coated over with 
ice. The next morning the thermometer stood 26 
degrees below zero with a thick fog. Every tree 
and bush was coated over with hoar frost half an 
inch thick. Professor Loomis in his book on the 
weather tells us that when the temperature of the 
atmosphere falls below the freezing point, then the 
aqueuous vapors floating in our atmosphere con¬ 
geals and settles on substances colder than the at¬ 
mosphere. This we call hoar frost. As I looked 
around me that morning and beheld that wonderful 
display of hoar frost, I said, “Professor Loomis, 
your theories do not explain this beautiful display 

28 



* 


Thunder Storm in Progress 























































this morning. How could any aqueous vapors be 
boating in our atmosphere this morning, and land 
on the top of our highest trees, when the ground is 
covered with several feet of snow and every pond 
and stream is covered with many inches of solid 
ice? Ho, there must be a warm stratum of air 
loaded with moisture miles above our earth and as 
that warm current settles towards our earth, that 
moisture congeals into very fine snow coming down 
from a perfectly clear sky. 

When my men came to work that morning, I said, 
“Men, we must get right up to the woods and haul 
out the balance of those logs which we left yester¬ 
day, because it is going to rain and those logs will 
get fast in the ice in less than 48 hours.” The men 
simply said “Phew!” and we went to work. On the 
way to the woods every man we met asked, “What 
are you going to the woods for such a morning as 
this?” 1 replied, “We must haul out logs today 
because it will rain tomorrow,” and everybody 
laughed. But the next day there was a pouring 
rain all day, then it cleared off like the snap of a 
whip and everything froze up solid. 

In February 1888 I noticed by the papers that 
very heavy rains were falling over the New England 
States and I knew that heavy rains in February 
mean heavy snow in March. Then I said to my men, 
“I want you to cut down and haul out logs just as 
fast as you can because we will have very heavy 
snows in March and then you won’t be able to haul 
logs, and I hired three extra teams. So when that 
blizzard came on the 13th of March 1888 I had 
enough logs and cordwood to last me three months. 
It pays to know something about the weather when 
you are in business no matter what the nature of 
your business may be. 

ANSWERING SOME QUESTIONS 

1. What is one of the startling effects of a descend¬ 
ing storm? 


29 


The Aurora Borealis, or northern lights. 

2. How does the forming of a storm produce 
Northern Lights? 

A forming storm produces rapid currents of 
wind: rapidly moving currents of wind produce 
friction, friction produces electricity; electricity 
illuminates the moisture in our atmosphere, 
then we behold the Northern Lights in all their 
glory. The moisture is blown by currents of 
wind and illuminated by electricity. The 
Northern Lights are not confined to the Arctic 
regions, but they appear wherever a sudden 
storm forms. They are sometimes seen in the 
Gulf States when they are not visible in the 
Northern States. 

3. What kind of weather usually follows a display 
of Northern Lights in the United States when 
they occur during the summer or fall months? 

They are usually followed by southerly winds 
and hot weather for several days. 

4. Why? 

Because the storm is over the northern part 
of the United States. 

5. Why cannot we see the Northern Lights, when 
a storm is forming south of the locality where 
we live? 

Because the thickest moisture is on the 
southern side of a forming storm. 

6. What is the first noticeable effect that a storm 
is forming north and west of us in winter? 

The first noticeable effect is a hoar frost. 

7. What is a hoar frost? 

When the temperature of the atmosphere 
drops below the freezing point, then the aqueous 
vapors which float in our atmosphere congeal 
and settle to our earth as fine particles of snow. 

8. When the mercury stands below zero and all 
rivers and bodies of water are frozen over, where 
does the hoar frost descend from? 


30 


There must be a warm current of air loaded 
with moisture drifting over our earth, the aque¬ 
ous vapors in this warm current descend to our 
earth and congeal into fine snow on their 
descent to our earth. 

9. What happens then? 

A storm forms and heavy rains descend. Such 
an incident happened in northern New Jersey 
the latter part of January 1875. The mercury 
stood 26 below Zero. Every shrub and bush 
was covered with half an inch of hoar frost, and 
in less than twenty-four hours we had a pouring 
rain. Then it cleared off suddenly and the cold 
returned. 

10. Why do we have rain in the midst of winter 
weather? 

Because in winter all precipitation leaves the 
clouds as snow. But at times when the storm 
center, is far to the north a warm current of 
wind is blowing from the south between our 
earth and that cloud, then the snow is melted 
and descends to our earth as rain. But when 
the temperature near our earth drops below 
freezing, then the rain drops change to hail. 

11. Why do we at times have rain and hail out of 
the same storm cloud? 

Because near the storm center the snow and 
rain are very close together, while further south 
it is all rain and to the north it is all snow. 

12. When a severe storm forms far to the north of 
us in winter, what are the various effects that 
storm will exert over our atmosphere here? 

First, hoar frost. Second, southerly winds. 
Third, rising temperature. Fourth, rain. Fifth, 
southeast gales. 

13. By carefully watching the clouds in their dif¬ 
ferent stages of progress and the effect produced 
by an approaching storm, how far in advance 
can we predict changes in our weather? 

31 


Thr^e days. 

How many days usually elapse before a simi¬ 
lar storm will again occur? 

Seven days. 

14. How many different kinds of storms are we 
likely to encounter during a whole year? 

Four kinds classified as follows: 

First, cloud oursts, second, tornadoes, third, 
electrical storms, fourth, cyclones. 

15. What is a cloud burst? 

It is the sudden formation of a dense cloud 
close to the earth, which appears to carry a 
small lake on its top. When this dense cloud 
strikes a high hill or mountain the jar breaks 
the cloud, then the water from that small lake 
rushes down the southern side of that hill or 
mountain. Many people have been drowned by 
this sudden rush of water. 

16. What causes a tornado? 

There is an invisible ceiling to our atmosphere. 
At times this ceiling breaks then there is a 
mighty rush of cold wind rushing downward 
towards our earth. Fifty years ago men called 
them Pit-falls. Thirty years ago I described 
them as holes in the sky. Fifteen years ago 
aviators described them as pockets in our at¬ 
mosphere. I still claim that holes is the best 
word. As soon as this downward rushing cur¬ 
rent enters our atmosphere clouds instantly 
form. If these clouds do not form fast enough 
to check that descending current in advance of 
a thunder storm then tornadoes will form on 
the southeast quadrant of that approaching 
thunder storm. 

17. How much space does a tornado usually cover? 

About half a mile wide and from five to ten 
miles long. 

18. What is the safest thing to do when we see a 
tornado approaching? 

32 


We should throw open the windows on the 
top floor of our house opposite to the tornado. 

19. Why? 

Because the temperature under a tornado is 
much colder than the air in our house. It is the 
hot air inside which lifts the roof off the house. 

20. What kind of a storm will follow a tornado? 

Violent electrical storms and heavy rains. 

21. What produces a cyclone? 

It is two or more storms united in one great 
storm center which moves by the law of attrac¬ 
tion and sometimes covers a path of two 
thousand miles long. 

FORECASTING WEATHER YEARS AHEAD 

Dry seasons, or excessive wet seasons can be 
determined hundreds of years in advance, by know¬ 
ing where the paths of the total eclipses of the Sun 
will pass on a given month and day. As I told our 
Government officials last September when the 
Special Commission was sent down to Mexico to 
take photographic plates of the sun during the 
eclipse, Sept. 10, 1923. That Commission applied 
for a ten thousand dollar insurance policy that in 
case of rain they could recover damages, and they 
requested our government to pay a premium of five 
hundred dollars. I simply asked the question, 
Why should our government pay five hundred dol¬ 
lars on a rain insurance policy when they were go¬ 
ing into a section of country at a time when it could 
not rain? Somebody lost that five hundred dollars 
because they would not believe my statement. 

I can distinctly remember just how certain storms 
looked both winter and summer before I was ten 
years old. Simply because they were unusual in 
their appearance. A snow storm began on a Satur¬ 
day, February, 1855, and the peculiar thing about 
it was this, it began to snow when there were no 
clouds in the sky. It began as fine frozen sleet, the 

33 


sun was shining and there was no wind and the 
sun gradually disappeared because it snowed so 
fast, and at midnight there was six inches of snow 
on the ground, then we had a sudden shower and 
it cleared off almost as warm as July. At sunrise 
on Sunday morning there was not a speck of snow 
to be seen nor a cloud in the sky while there was 
no wind at any time. 

The daily papers of December 12, 1923, published 
three startling statements regarding weather con¬ 
ditions. These conditions were seen on the 
Government weather map of December 11, 1923. 
First: there was freezing weather out in California; 
where most people think there is summer weather 
all the year around. Second, there was a great 
snow storm down in Texas. Snowing like a regular 
blizzard for the past twelve hours. Third, there 
was a depression of marked intensity centered 
over Saskatchewan, Canada, traveling rapidly south¬ 
eastward. These three statements form a wonder¬ 
ful combination which cannot be explained by any 
method known to science. But the fact that I ac¬ 
curately described those conditions more than two 
years in advance (and they were published in the 
Chattanooga Wall Calendar for this December) 
proves that I must know the law or I could not 
describe the conditions that would follow the oper¬ 
ations of that law. 

I have been hampered in my work for many 
years because I could not get certain astronomical 
calculations which I must have in order to ascertain 
what sort of weather follows those conditions when 
they were repeated fifteen or twenty years in the 
future. Not until the past summer did I find a 
man who was both willing and able to give the 
important information which I needed. For in¬ 
stance, I have heard my mother speak hundreds of 
times about a great storm which occurred during 
the month of June 1841. A Mr. Chris Zabriskie 

34 


who lived near New Bridge, N. J., a few miles north 
of Hackensack, a farmer, stated that he had a regu¬ 
lar sized flour barrel standing in his open field 
where nothing could run into, and he stated when 
that storm was over that flour barrel was running 
over with water from the rain which descended 
during forty-eight hours. There were no rain 
measuring instruments in New York City at that 
time, but a flour barrel is about 40 inches deep. 

I wrote to an astronomer to ascertain the day 
and hour and latitude of the New Moon during June 
1841, and he stated that it occurred on the 19th. 
Then I wrote inquiring the date of the New Moon 
in June 1859 and he stated that it occurred on the 
31st and the moon was in the same latitude as in 
1841. That storm formed at 11 o’clock in the 
morning and hail stones as large as tea cups fell in 
New York and caused over a million dollars of 
damage by destroying glass. A pouring rain con¬ 
tinued for 48 hours after that thunder storm and 
destroyed millions of dollars worth of property by 
carrying away bridges. The next great thunder 
storm occurred at the new moon the 28th of May, 
1889. That was the storm which caused the de¬ 
struction of Johnstown called the Johnstown Flood 
and it continued for three days. The next great 
thunder storm occurred on the 10th of October, 
1905. It began like all the others with a thunder 
storm. It continued for three days and more than 
ten inches of water fell, and New Jersey had to pay 
hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild her 
bridges. I could go on for hours and recite interest¬ 
ing instances where great loss of life and property 
could have been prevented had we known and 
heeded that law and prepared to meet the danger. 


35 
















